A few years ago, I was watching Beck’s program, when he claimed that medical professionals don’t have the right to conscientiously object from practices they agree with, such as contraception.

At first, I forgave the fact that Glenn Beck is outspokenly apostate. I’ve mentioned on this blog in the past that I give him credit for one thing: unlike people like Arnold Schwarzeneggar, Rudolph Giuliani, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, the Kennedys, John Kerry, Kathleen Sebelius or Nancy Pelosi, at Beck had the courage to admit he wasn’t really Catholic and leave the Church.

However, that makes him an apostate. As an apostate, he’s on the fast road to Hell. For mentioning this fact in various discussions, I’ve been told I’m “evil” and that I have a “novel” interpretation of Catholic teaching, even though it is clearly stated numerous places (including Karl Adam’s _Spirit of Catholicism_), implied in the 1994 _Catechism_, and in general a basic Catholic teaching, much less the Bible. “Baptism by desire” applies to those who are unbaptized and have not had a reasonable opportunity to know the Catholic Church, but might have converted had they known her–or who were prevented from being baptized by the Church’s own rules and/or negligence.

Vatican II teaches that those who have been raised in non-Catholic Christian traditions are not guilty of the “sin of separation,” since they never made that choice. They have a similar principle to “baptism of desire,” except in regard to the other sacraments, since they’re already baptized.

So what to say of someone who *was* Catholic and left the Church? Hard for such a person to make it back into salvation without reconciling with the Church, save for “invincible ignorance” (and whatever qualifies for that).

In Glenn Beck, though, we have a public figure, a man who presents himself as intelligent, who makes a living sharing his opinions. The best defense Beck’s supporters can lobby is that “he wasn’t properly catechized” or “didn’t understand the faith,” yet doesn’t that very “defense” validate that Beck is not worth listening to, if he’s so badly informed on such a basic subject as his faith.

Earlier this year, Beck infamously told his listeners to “leave any church that teaches social justice.” Beck’s Catholic supporters claim he means the false idea of social justice taught by liberal Catholics, or that he’s misinformed about what social justice is. Again, if he’s that badly informed, he has no business shooting his mouth off in public. By saying those words, this Catholic-turned-Mormon is telling Catholics to leave the Catholic Church. He’s an apostate encouraging others to apostasy.

We’re told he’s “doing a lot of good.” How? How is Beck doing good that other, more educated, propagandizers cannot also do?